- The Winter Care Fund offers up to £1,000,000 of matched funding to support local authorities and ICBs to roll out of remote monitoring technology Lilli in home care settings
- The fund has been set up help reduce the serious risks to health associated with cold weather through proactive lifestyle monitoring
- Lilli data reveals 61% of people put their health at risk from low temperatures last winter
With winter fast approaching, workers across the health and social care sector will be preparing for inevitable challenges posed by seasonal illnesses and plummeting temperatures – piling on pressure to an already overwhelmed care system and impacting the system’s ability to deliver vital services.
To help combat the issue, health-tech specialists at Lilli, the company using AI to revolutionise the care system, is today announcing the launch of its Winter Care Fund. This new fund will allow access of up to £1,000,000 of matched funding in order to procure and roll out remote monitoring technology to address some of the main challenges within the care system before the coldweather starts to bite.
Lilli’s Winter Care Fund will match fund organisations that wish to improve conditions within the care system using a proactive, sensor-based solution. By adopting remote monitoring technology, local authorities and adult social service teams can be on the front foot and spot behavioural signs of health decline – as well as conditions like low temperatures – which suggest people may be struggling without carers being present. This allows care givers to intervene early before an individual’s health starts to decline and focus precious resources where they are most needed.
Nick Weston, Chief Commercial Officer at Lilli, said: “By taking this proactive step, local authorities, ICBs and caregivers can prioritise support for those who need it most. We’re launching our Winter Care Fund so we can ease the pressure on an already strained health and care system while reducing the risk to life for people across the care system.
“Put simply, the ability to deliver care to those who urgently need it this winter will be impacted unless urgent interventions are made now.”
Last year, Which reported that a staggering 13 million households kept their heating switched off during some of the coldest months of the year, while anonymised data from Lilli showed 61% of people monitored were at risk from low home temperatures. For some individuals, this meant spending prolonged periods in homes where the temperature was below 10C, with some plummeting to 5C – a far cry from the 18 degrees recommended as a safe indoor temperature by the World Health Organisation.
The harm these plummeting temperatures could cause to an elderly person is stark; low body temperatures can lead to a cascade of other health risks such as raised blood pressure, lower resistance to respiratory infections, sleep disruption, depression, anxiety and isolation. Even more worryingly, 1,000 people died last winter after living in cold homes.[1]
Nick adds: “Social care organisations need the ability to spot when people are at risk so they can intervene earlier and keep people safe from temperature-related illnesses. By adopting remote monitoring technology, local authorities and adult social service teams can be on the front foot and spot patterns of behaviour – or conditions like low temperatures – and quicky take action. This helps to keep people in their own homes, preventing even greater pressure on over-stretched services this winter through emergency hospital admissions.”
Around the country, evidence is building to show the impact that Lilli is having across the UK. The remote monitoring technology has been rolled out through several successful pilot schemes via local authorities, allowing care givers to monitor key indicators of health and wellbeing including eating and drinking, bathroom activity, movement and temperature.
In just six months of adopting Lilli technology, North Tyneside Council acquired more than 7,000 additional carer hours and saved £132,757 by monitoring 40 people who were accessing services. In Nottingham, they were able to accelerate hospital discharge by as much as 16 days due to having the technology in place.
The Winter Care Fund matched funding offers between 12 month and 5 year contract terms for local authorities and ICBs, to commence before January 2024. To apply and for more information, organisations should email wcf@intelligentlilli.com for an application pack.
[1] Over 1,000 dead in December 2022 due to cold homes – End Fuel Poverty Coalition
